Bodegas Osborne

The government said Monday it will partner with Hong Kong to develop the City of London as a major offshore centre of trade in China's yuan currency.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Global leaders and businessmen urged Europe on Monday to take fresh steps to resolve its deepening debt crisis, with a top executive of the IMF warning the continent will see a "downward spiral of collapsing confidence" if no further action is taken.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Global leaders and businessmen urged Europe on Monday to take fresh steps to resolve its deepening debt crisis, with a top executive of the IMF warning the continent will see a "downward spiral of collapsing confidence" if no further action is taken.

Britain said Monday it will partner with Hong Kong to develop the City of London as a major offshore centre of trade in China's yuan currency.

British Prime Minister David Cameron received a hero's welcome from his party's lawmakers but faced searching questions Saturday over his veto of a new EU treaty to solve the eurozone crisis.

Prime Minister David Cameron received a hero's welcome from his party's MPs but faced searching questions Saturday over his veto of a new EU treaty to solve the eurozone crisis.

Banks, including those bailed out at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, are under intense pressure to curb annual bonuses in light of the worsening economic climate.

The government's next annual budget will be held on March 21, 2012, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said on Wednesday.

The government on Tuesday dismissed claims made by a leading lobby company that it had direct access to Prime Minister David Cameron as "outrageous" and "a load of rubbish".

LONDON (Reuters) - Teachers, nurses and border guards walked out on Wednesday as up to two million state workers staged Britain's first mass strike for more than 30 years in a growing confrontation with a deficit-cutting coalition government.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's coalition government unveiled sharply lower economic growth forecasts on Tuesday and said it would take much longer than hoped to wipe out its deficit, meaning tough austerity measures would extend beyond the next election due in 2015.

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government unveiled sharply lower economic growth forecasts on Tuesday and said it would take longer than hoped to wipe out its deficit, meaning that tough austerity measures would extend beyond 2015.

Britain's economy faces a double-dip recession, according to new forecasts from the OECD, which predicts the economy will start to shrink again in coming months.

MIDDLESBROUGH, England (Reuters) - In the former British industrial powerhouse of Middlesbrough, a skyline once dominated by smoke-belching chimneys and steel mill furnaces now features a monumental piece of public art and an elegant new state college clad in silver and bronze.

Western powers responded to a damning UN report about Iran's nuclear program with a fresh batch of sanctions Monday, targeting the country's central bank and the vital energy sector.

Britain is severing links with Iranian banks because of evidence that they are involved in the development of a nuclear weapons programme, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department plans to designate Iran as an area of "primary money laundering concern" on Monday, a U.S. official said, a move that will prompt new steps to isolate Tehran from the international financial system.

The eurozone crisis is "a real danger" to all Europe's economies, including Britain, said Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne as he arrived for crunch EU talks urging a quick fix to the crisis.

LISBON/LONDON (Reuters) - Debt rating agencies had the knives out for some of Europe's weakened banks on Friday, highlighting the pressure for decisive government action in support for the industry.

LONDON (Reuters) - Credit rating agency Moody's downgraded Britain's part-nationalized banks Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday, although Britain's finance minister said UK banks were well-placed to cope with a European debt crisis.